Saturday, March 15, 2014

Walk for a Bus Intro


Hello Friends and Family!

It’s been a while since I’ve written and I wanted to update you all on my latest project! For the past term a counterpart and I have been working on a fundraising idea for our school. We want to raise money to purchase a vehicle, yow-zah!!

We are planning to do a walk across the county to raise awareness of our school and raise money from individuals and companies across the way for a vehicle. Sipili School for the Deaf is the only school for the Deaf in Laikipia County and we want people to know who we are. We will be walking from the town of Nanyuki, 240 km, along the main highway to Sipili town. There will be 16 learners, 2-3 co-teachers and a few volunteers as well as myself. We will be walking between 35 and 40 km a day and sleeping at various schools along the way. It will be the experience of a lifetime to say the least! We are hoping to raise a fair amount of money locally so that we can apply for a Peace Corps Grant soon after the walk using the money we raised as our 25% community contribution. It is a large undertaking and I’m hoping it works out. I will definitely let you all know how the walk goes in a few weeks when we've completed it and gotten the contributions!

Our students are such visual learners but it can be so tough to take them places and see parts of Kenya. They have heard about lots of places and things but have hardly seen them. They often only see the school compound and their homes but rarely get the chance to see things outside of those two places. We are lucky to be heading to Games this April that will be taking place at Muranga School for the Deaf. The students have been working hard at practice and I think they are much better prepared for Games this year than last year.

We have one full week of school left although we will be busy getting things ready for the walk and Games. I can’t believe how fast time has been flying by. We have a week of school; a week for the walk and then on the 2nd of April, school officially closes. The students who will proceed to Games will stay at school and then head to Nanyuki for counties before Regionals in Muranga. And then before we know it, it’ll be mid-April and break will be in full swing! Bring on relaxing summer days in the rainy season J

Hope everything is going well for all of you in the States!
Kisses from Kenya,
Zabet